Device for lasting shoes



N0. 6I6,289. Patented D90. 20, I898. W. H. CRAWFORD.

DEVICE FOR LASTING SHOES.

(Application filed Mar. 25, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, OF ROSEMONT, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVICE FOR LASTING SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 616,289, dated December 20, 1898.

Application filed March 25, 1898. Serial No. 675,056. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beitknown that LWILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rosemont, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Lasting Shoes, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to the class of devices employed in the manufacture of lace shoes, for securing the upper, and particularly the instep portion of the upper upon the last.

The object of my invention is the provision of an inexpensive and durable device for lacing and holding shoe uppers in place upon the last while they are undergoing the process of lasting and second lasting, and until the shoe is completed,-which can be quickly applied, and which, when applied, will maintain the instep portion of the upper accurately smoothly and unwrinkled upon the last, in precisely the position in which it is necessary that the upper should beheld, in order to cause it to assume the shape which it is desired that it shall ultimately possess when the'shoe has been completed.

To the "foregoing ends my invention comprehends a lasting lacer adapted to be applied upon the outside of the upper in the region of the instep slit, and not between the upper and the last, and which embodies the features of construction represented in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described and claimed.

A good form of a convenient embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a top plan View of an upper upon the last in process of being lasted,with

-my lacer in place.

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the lacer removed from the upper.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan View of said lacer.

Figure 4 is a transverse section ,in the plane of the dotted line 4 4 of Figure 2, through the lacer as shown in said figure; and Figure 5 is a viewin perspective of a catch or fastener which I find it convenient to employ to secure the free ends of the lacing cords of the lacer.

In the drawings,

A is the vamp and A the quarter,wh-ich to* gether compose the upper, of the shoe.

B is the block and B the last proper of a last of the usual character, connected as is usual by a last cord 1).

a indicate the eyelet holes formed at the edges of the instep of the quarter, for the usual shoe laces.

O designates the body of myimproved lacer, which is preferably an oblong plate made of sole leather, but which may be made of any preferred slightly flexible or other material.

' The form of the body of the lacer is in the drawings shown as tapering from the region where the uppermost of its lacing cords D D D is applied, to its lower or bottom portion,- and the taper when present may vary, being such as the purposes of manufacture may dictate, and being calculated to impart to the opposing edges of the respective sides of the instep portion of the upper when upon the last, such desired spread or taper from a vanishing point at their common junction with the vamp to their top or upper end portions where the uppermost eyelet holes are formed.

The upper portion of the lacer is preferably prolonged and reversely tapered and rounded to form a pulling-up tongue or thumb portion 0 by taking hold of which the operator may be enabled when the lacer has been'applied to the upper to pull up the quarter portion to stretch it obliterate wrinkles and cause it to conform closely to the last and assume the set which it is desired that the upper shall ultimately possess.

The lacer is shown as provided with a series or plurality of lacing cords,three, designated D, D, D being shown in the embodiment represented, which are applied at equal distances apart longitudinally of the lacer and to one side of its axis as shown in the drawings.

It is sufficient to provide the lacer with a number of lacing cords equaling one half the number of pairs of eyelet holes in the upper, so that in the threading of the cords through the correspondingly opposite pairs of eyelet holes, alternate pairs of holes shall alone be engaged by the cords.

The lacing cords may be secured to the lacer in any preferred manner, conveniently by having their inner ends passed through holes d cl (1 formed through the body of the lacer, extended beneath its under surface, and secured either by the clenching of the coiled wire fasteners E E E or by being pasted down by means of a bottom covering c of morocco, shiver, or other preferred material, pasted or otherwise secured to and extending completely over the under surface of the body of the lacer, so as to impart to the latter a smooth finish and prevent any possible injury to the upper of the shoe in the application or use of the device.

The free ends of the lacing cords may conveniently but not necessarily be provided with spiral wire tips d of a character usual in shoe laces.

E E E are a series of coiled-wire fasteners of a well-known character indicated in Figure 5, which, in order to attach them to the lacer, embody clenching points e adapted to be driven through the substance of the body of the lacer, and to be turned up or clenched against its under surface as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 5, and which, when so clenched, are covered or protected by the bottom covering 0 of the lacer.

\Vhile I have represented and regard as well adapted for the purpose the coiled wire fastener represented, I do not restrict myself to its use, as any device of any proper material calculated to effect the temporary retention of the free ends of the lacing cords may be employed in its stead.

The fasteners are conveniently applied centrally of the lacer and abreast the lateral points of attachment of the lacing cords.

In the application of the lacer to the upper, the lacing cords are threaded through correspondingly opposite pairs of eyelet holes in the quarter, passing beneath the latter as indicated in Figure 4, and as to their free ends are, under the desired tension or tautness, secured to the fasteners.

In order, in the lasting operations, to insure the uniform stretching of the instep portion of the upper and to permit of the uniform drawing up of said portion upon the last by pulling up upon the body of the attached lacer, without permitting of the forming of folds or wrinkles in the upper,I provide each side or outside edge of the body of the lacer with a series of correspondingly opposite lacingcord notches c c 0 preferably either squarebottomed or semi-circular, with which the lacing cords, when threaded through the eyelet holes of the upper and as to their free ends secured by the fasteners, as represented in the final application of the device shown in Figure 1, engage, and by the aid of which a uniform or equally distributed upward tension or side draft is brought to bear upon the lacing cords,

and thence,through them in their engagement with the eyelet holes (1, upon the edges of the upper in said pulling-up operation.

It will now be readily understood that my lacer possesses the peculiar advantage that when it has been applied to the instep portion of an upper, and its lacing cords have been drawn tight and fastened, it will insure the precise application or fitting of the upper upon the last for which it is cut, and the form which it is desired that the upper shall ultimately possess, namely, a fit and form in which the eyelet-provided sides of the instep slit of the upper are drawn together at the junction with the vamp and held with a graduated or tapering separation, so to speak, to a desired gap or distance apart at their upper ends.

It will be further understood that this advantage is the result of the ordinary use of my lacer, and that there is no guesswork about it and nothing left to the skill of the operative, for the reason that the form of the lacer is such that when it has been applied it becomes impossible to draw the instep portion together more closely or to permit it to spread farther than to a certain graduated distance, and that when the upper with the lacer ap plied has been lasted, it will not upon the re moval of the lacer gap or open farther than is desired.

Having thus described my invention,I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. An instep holder or lacer for use in the operation of lasting shoes, which consists of a plate upon the face of which is mounted a lace securing device, and a lacing cord en= gaged with said plate and free to pass through opposing eyes of a shoe upper beneath it and be conducted to the upper face of the plate, drawn taut, and secured, the points of contact or engagement of the lace with the opposing edge regions of the plate being so distant from each other that said plate limits the approach of the edges of the shoe upper in the drawing taut of the lace,- substantially as set forth.

2. An instep holder or lacer for use in the operation of lasting shoes, which consists of a plate on the face of which are mounted a series of lace end securing devices, and a series of laces engaged with said plate and free to pass through opposing eyes of a shoe upper and be conducted to the upper face of a plate drawn taut and secured, the points of contact or engagement ofthe lacing cords with the opposing edge regions of the plate being so distant from each other that said plate limits the approach of the edges of the shoe upper in the drawing taut of said lacing cords, substantially as set forth.

3. An instep holder or lacer for use in the operation of lasting shoes, which consists of a body formed with correspondingly opposite pairs of cord notches, a series of lacing cords permanently secured to the body, and a series of fasteners also secured to said body and adapted to detachably secure the free ends of the cords, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4:. An instep holder or lacer for use in the operation of lasting shoes, which consists of a body formed of leather or kindred pliable material, a series of lacing cords permanently secured to the body by being passed through holes in it and. having their free ends extended beneath its under surface,and a series of coiled wire fasteners adapted to detachably secure the other ends of the cords and secured to said body by being formed with clenching points passed through said body and clenched beneath its under surface, and a bottom covering permanently secured to said body and cov- [o ering and retaining the ends of the cords and clenched ends of the fasteners, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myinvention I have hereunto signed my name this 22d day of March, A. D. 1898.

WM. H. CRAWFORD.

In presence of J. BONSALL TAYLOR, F. NORMAN DIXON. 

